Mihalovich's legal team said it has found inconsistencies in some of the facts stated in a district report. The report was released by the player's attorney last week.

Mihalovich's attorney, Marc Ward, said the district's investigate report does not live up to past district standards.

Ward said the investigators "obviously had an agenda." He walked through each point in the report that he found to be in error.

Ward asked for the board to reinstate Mihalovich, but at a meeting Wednesday night, the board voted 4-2 to dismiss Milhalovich and Kevin Johnston from the positions.

"The mistreatment of a student, whether in a classroom or on a football field, is inappropriate in any situation," Interim Superintendent Tom Ahart said. "Des Moines Public Schools does not and will not tolerate any employee or volunteer who does not uphold the best interests of our students."

Drew Bracken, attorney for the superintendent, said the board was not there to condemn Milhalovich as a man, but rather what happened on the football practice field.

Dick Murphy, school board president, said the board considered many issues regarding a well-liked coach, but in the end had to enforce district rules and policies.

Mihalovich said it's been a difficult and troubling six weeks since his suspension started. He said the entire situation has not been fair to himself and the player involved and said it was "sad to see he's not at Lincoln High School anymore and in our program."

Mihalovich said he "cares deeply about the players. In 35 years of coaching, I would never puts any of our players in harm's way."

"Nothing is more important in my life than my name. And to be disparaging out in the public is unacceptable and I look forward tonight so I can get to the school board and get this cleared up. And my biggest wish is to be back coaching the young men and represent Lincoln High School, the school and the team that I love," said Mihalovich.

Comments

The views expressed are not those of this site, this station or its affiliated companies. By posting your comments you agree to accept our terms of use. KCCI offers readers the ability to comment on stories with the understanding that these comments may be reprinted elsewhere on the site or used on KCCI newscasts. We ask that you refrain from profanity, hate speech, comments that don't relate to the story and any personal remarks. THIS IS IMPORTANT: KCCI does not edit user submitted statements and we cannot promise that readers will not, at times, find offensive or inaccurate comments posted in this area. If you find a comment that is objectionable or offensive, click the flag that appears in the upper right corner when you hover over a comment. Flagged comments may be automatically hidden from comment threads. For comments to appear on the website and/or the mobile app, email addresses must be verified through Disqus. We ask the community to monitor this forum with the knowledge that KCCI does not regularly monitor these comments.